Telephone-receiver support.



I PATENTEI MAR; 15, 1904. H. L. .GOODWIN. TELEPHONE RECEIVER SUPPORT. APPLICATION FILED MAY 25 1903 Wiz'bzesS es J ll/672i??? Jfarryll. Gaadw/z'n lz jp igzw no MODEL.

UNITED I STATES Patented March 15, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY L. GOODWIN, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO CHARLES N. LAVERY, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

TELEPHONE-RECEIVER SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 754,556, dated March 15, 1904.

Application filed May 25, 1903. Serial No. 158,627. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY L. GooDwIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone-Receiver Supports, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in telephone-receiver hooks; and my object is to provide a wire-formed elastic hook that can v be readily attached to a telephone and when so attached is capable of supporting the receiver in a vertical position and that can when desired be readily detached from the tele phone.

My invention is not intended to displace the ordinary receiver-hook that opens and closes the circuit, but is simply intended to support the receiver when it is desired to keep the circuit closed.

The utility of my device is at once apparent in business-houses containing a large number of employees who frequently receive calls over the telephone. At such times it is necessary for the person answering the calls to either suspendthe receiver by the circuit-wires or lay it upon a desk until the party Wanted is notified and responds to the call. Both the above methods of disposing of the receiver are inconvenient, especially the latter one, if the top of the desk upon which it is placed is slanting, as it has a tendency to roll therefrom. These difficulties are avoided by employing my improved hook, which is attached directly to the telephone, and consequently is as convenient as the ordinary receiver-hook now in use.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 represents a preferred form of my hook attached to the vertical arm of a desk phone-transmitter. Fig. 2 is a detail plan view of the hook detached. Fig. 3 shows a modified form of the hook attached'to the horizontal arm of a desk phone-transmitter. Fig. 4: shows another modified form of the hook intended for use on a wall-telephone; In carrying out my invention I employ a single piece of spring-wire that is bent midway between its opposite ends in the form of in position between said arms.

a reduced semicircular portion 1, the opposite sides of which communicate with enlarged quadrant-shaped portions 2, that communicate with forwardly-extending parallel arms 3,bent outwardly and backwardly at 4 and which communicate with underlying arms 5 and 5", that curve toward each other at their rear portions, the former communicating with an upwardly-extending arm 6, while the latter is pivotally connected to the lower portion of arm 6 by a loop 7 that communicates with a downwardly-extending arm 8. Arms 6 and 8 terminate in oppositely-disposed segmental portions 10, adapted to snugly embrace and clamp the vertical transmitter-arm 11. The

radius ofsegmental portions 10 is slightly less than the radius of arm 11 in order that the segmental portions will grip the arm and reliably hold the hook thereon; but I do not depend solely upon the friction thus produced to also support the weight of the receiver, and consequently arrange arms 3, 5, and 5 so close together that their forward portions will be spread apart in the direction indicated by arrows a, Fig. 2, by the receiverwhen placed This spreading of thearms causes segmental portions 10 to grip or bind more tightly upon the transmitter-arm, and thus avoid all possibility. of the hook slipping downwardly under the additional weight of the receiver. The reduced semicircular portion 1 increases the elasticity of the hook, so arm 3 can be readily pressed apart by the receiver, and when the latter is removed causes said arms to resume their normal position. As arms 5 and 5 are pivotally connected by loop 7, they are also pressed apart by the receiver, which movement increases the binding action of the segmental portions, as above described.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 3 vertical arms 6 and 8 and loop 7 are dispensed with and a transverse bar 12, having pivotal connections 7 at its opposite ends with the rear portions of arms 5 5, is substituted for the loop, and segmental portions 10 engage the same side of horizontal transmitter-arm 11 instead of the opposite sides thereof. Upon placing the receiver in position on this hook arms 5 and 5, which operate on pivot 7, are pressed apart at their forward ends, while the semicircular portions 10 are pressed toward each other, so they clamp arm ll more tightly, and thus reliably sustain the weight of the receiver. r

In the modified form shown in Fig. 4c the rear portion of arm 5 communicates with a right-angular portion 13, which communicates with a rearwardly-extending arm 14:, provided at its rear terminal with a clamping member 15, while arm 5 communicates at its rear portion with a series of loops 7, encircling the right-angular portion 13, and which communicate with a rearwardly-extending arm 16, provided at its rear terminal with a companion clamping member 15, said clamping members being adapted to engage the frame of a wall-phone, upon which they are reliably held by the spring action of loops 7 which presses the terminal of arm 16 toward the end of arm 14:, the upward pressure of which latter is increased by the weight of the receiver when placed upon the forward end of the hook.

From the above description it is apparent that I have produced a peculiar-shaped hook which is simple in construction and thoroughly eflective for the purpose intended.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, IS-

1. A telephone-receiver hook consisting of forwardly-extending arms adapted to support the receiver, rearwardly-extending arms communicating with and underlying the forwardly-extending arms, and clamping members communicating with the rearwardly-extending arms and adapted to engage a suitable portion of the telephone.

2. A telephone-receiver hook consisting of forwardly extending arms connected at their rear portions with areduced semicircular portion,rearwardly-extending arms communicating with the forward portions of the forwardlyextending arms, pivotal connections between the rear portion of the rearwardlyextending arms, and-clamping members communicating with said rearwardly extending arms.

3. A telephone-receiver hook consisting of forwardly-extending arms connected at their rear portions by a reduced semicircular portion and which arebent downwardly and rearwardly at their forward portions, rearwardlyextending arms communicating with the bent portions of the forwardly-extending arms, and pivotally connected at their rear portions, and clamping members communicating with the rearwardly-extending arms, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

HARRY L. GOODWIN.

Witnesses:

F.- G. FISCHER, C. N. LAVERY. 

